He knows when you are healthy, he knows when you are sick

If my post about Raisin Time was called "He knows when you are sleeping, he knows when you're awake," (as you may recall, Hops knows I'm up and ready for Raisin Time the second my feet hit the floor in the morning) then this blog entry's title would make more sense. ;-)

However, I have to tout my boy yet again, the Smartie. Saturday was a shitty day for me. I had another all-too-frequent migraine. I went to bed Friday night with a slight something going on -- could have been just a tired headache -- and woke up at 1:00 p.m. (that's not the weird part) with a splitting headache. Tried (successfully and not) to go back to sleep until 5:00, then got out of bed, talked to Jannine for a few minutes (her first words after my "Hello" were "You don't sound so good."), took a hot bath (which sometimes helps), went back to bed from 7:30 until 9:15, felt a bit better, then watched Shall We Dance?, a pretty cute movie for what it was.

So, the bunny story is embedded in the 1:00 to 5:00 timeframe. I said hi to the kids when I woke up, but didn't get up bc, well, I would have either fallen over or gotten sick. Better to stay stationary. About 2:00, Hops hopped up on the bed, walked up and around my legs and nestled in with me where I could put my arm around him and give him kisses on his head. We snuggled like that for about 20 minutes to half an hour before he decided he was getting too hot. But the little honks of pleasure when I'd pet him just so and the kisses he showered me with -- those are the times I feel he's so connected to me. He knew I was sick and he came to comfort me. This is not the first time he's done this, mind you -- just the first time I've had a chance to blog about it.

I guess my Mother's Day present from my kids came a day early.

Amber, my first bunny for those of you who don't know the story (maybe I'll post more of it as time goes on), used to climb on me and cuddle with me whenever I'd cry, which for the last year or so of his life, was quite a lot. He had no bunny siblings, as Hops does, so all of his bonding was directed toward me.

I've always believed that animals sense things -- approaching storms (my bunnies have always gotten especially rambunctious before it snows, for example), tension in a household, but to know that a person they're bonded to just needs some loving cuddles -- that's cool. For all the vet visits and litter box cleaning and worrying when they're sick, one kiss from a bunny makes it all worthwhile to me.